Of Parties and Potions
by cherrytea
Summary: In which Emily the Strange demonstrates her neighborly compassion.


_of _PARTIES&POTIONS.

- **cherry**tea-

**- - - - - - - - - - - -**

**E**mily was just settling down for her daily tea with her four cats when the doorbell rudely interrupted their small gathering.

"Oh great," Emily groaned. "Which annoying neighbor is it this time?"

She went to open the door. Outside stood a fiend with disgusting cotton-candy pink hair and a drab gray outfit.

"Who are you?" Emily said.

"I'm Liz, in your lunch period and science class."

Science class. That rang a bell. Emily recalled the time they had been partnered together for an experiment, and she had spilled a dangerous mix of chemicals on Liz's head, which was the reasoning behind the horrendous hair. Emily didn't pay much attention to anyone in her classes, or the classes themselves, for she always sat deliberately at the back of the room; plus, she already knew most everything those foolish teachers went on and on about. As for what she didn't know, she really could not have cared less.

Emily nodded in recognition and demanded, "State your business."

"Uh, well, I kind of ran out of sugar" – Liz held up an empty sugar bowl – "and I wanted to see if I could have some of yours."

Emily was ready to flat-out refuse and slam the door in this annoying girl's face when she was suddenly struck with the most ingenious idea. "Sure," she answered instead, arranging her lips in a curve that vaguely resembled a genuinely kind smile. "You can have some, I have plenty. Actually, I was just about to have some tea with my kitties. Care to join us?"

"Uh... sure."

Emily closed the door behind Liz and led her into the dining room, where a table was already set up with tea. Her cats were crowded around the table, waiting patiently for their owner, who pulled up an unsteady wooden chair before sitting in her own comfortable seat with curled arm rests and legs and a ladder-like back that stretched on for some length. Liz sat down uncertainly and watched as Emily poured tea into five white teacups resting on blank saucers.

"Oh," she said in an abnormally cheerful tone. "We're a cup short, aren't we? I'll go get you another one."

As Emily rummaged around in the kitchen for another set of cup and saucer, her unsupervised cats crowded around Liz, purring and rubbing themselves against her legs. She reached down to pet one with an odd white-striped tail and was immediately faced with the wrath of its fang-like teeth.

"Nee-Chee," Emily chastised upon her return. "Mystery, Miles, Sabbath. Don't be naughty. You know how I feel about you making our guests uncomfortable.

They did, of course. They knew very well.

Emily placed an apple red cup in front of her guest. "Sorry, I couldn't find any more teacups so you'll have to make do with this." While she poured tea into the cup, her cats crawled upon Liz, one of them attempting to climb up her face. By the time she managed to get them off, Emily had finished pouring. Liz stared into the mahogany tea and thought she saw a white wisp of liquid, the kind formed by adding one liquid onto another.

"Drink up," Emily urged. Not wanting to appear uncourteous, Liz heeded her advice.

She thought the tea tasted a bit bitter. What was she drinking again? Tea. Like a golf tee, or a T-shirt. The room became unfocused like binoculars zooming in too close on some object. Liz rubbed her eyes and shook her head to clear it, which only made it worse. Now the room was spinning. Where was she? Maybe she was on a carousel. She tried to identify the objects whizzing past her line of vision. Emily. Table. Cat. Cat. Hat. Chair. Tablecloth. Cat. Emily. Emily. Darkness.

––

Emily shook the girl, confirming that she was out cold. She smiled and clapped her hands in wicked delight. "Test Subject #3 has responded positively to S. Elixir #23," she announced to her feline friends. She dragged Liz out of her house and suddenly remembered the sugar bowl that was still on the table in the dining room. She filled it halfway with salt and then poured in some sugar.

Emily placed the sugar bowl next to Liz and said to her, "I hope this teaches you not to play Little-Miss-Nicey-Neighbor with Emily Strange. Now get lost!" And she slammed the door on her sleeping classmate.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Insomnia+poster+annoying songs on the radio that don't help me sleep equals this!


End file.
